If your creative self is feeling flattened by the pandemic, as is mine, consider this email a treasure chest of creative care and feeding from my creative heart to yours.
Light one of the scented candles you got as a gift for the holidays, put on some music, and nourish devotion with your breath and body.
A Devotion
Today may I remember
My creativity is my delight, my refuge
Mystery taking form
It is mine to visit as I choose
When I choose
My creativity is not defined by word counts, likes, sales, or approval
It is desire and longing, calling and connection
It is wholeness
May I place my attention on what nourishes me
What lights me from within
And let that draw me forward
***
The pandemic isn’t a test or a deadline. If you don’t “use it wisely”, so what? I say “arrive alive” is our only goal.
Why not try one of these 56 ways to beat boredom. Fun restores creativity.
Set a timer for 15 minutes and visit here or here or here with the intention of making something for 5 minutes when your timer goes off. (We will do stuff like this in my 5-day course Get Back to Creating, join us – – it’s free!)
Interview someone in your family or neighborhood that you’ve always wanted to know more about.
Take every project you are never going to finish and every craft you are never going to do again and give them away or recycle. Say “Thank you for all you gave me. I’m grateful. I’m moving on and you can too.” Make space for what’s next.
Dance. It changes everything.
Be curious sooner.
Take a wonder walk. Walk somewhere very familiar and look for, sniff for, listen for, feel for what you’ve never noticed before.
Put on jewels, shoes, cashmere, lipstick, a fancy robe, anything to change the monotony of donning sweatpants.
Take a big project and make it a tiny project. Write a 5-page book, mail art instead of painting, activate five ideas for improving profit in your business instead of doing a big launch.
Or devote yourself to a moon shot dream that scares the crap out of you. I am.
Take a Shadow Comfort and turn it into a creative practice. If you are watching a lot of TV, keep a notebook close and write your impressions of what you like about the story, or the costumes, or how the shots are framed. Eating a lot of sweets? Turn into a baking exploration and give away some of what you make to your neighbors, as a random act of kindness. Comparing yourself to others on Instagram? What about their posts do you wish you were doing in your life? Create a list of what you wish you were doing, then ask yourself is this what you genuinely want? Does it invite any small actions on your part?
Give yourself a Desire Retreat. Instructions on page 204 of Why Bother? (paperback). Basically, do only what you want for a set period of time. Even two hours can be creatively refreshing.
We will get through this. It’s about staying sane, staying close to ourselves, and recognizing how hard this time is without giving in to despair. We can do this.